Words of the Month

Hopefully by this time everyone has had a chance to practice the Words of the Month for September and October.  I wanted to give you some information about the words that are on the list and what are some things you can do with these words at home. 

The words that are chosen for the Words of the Month are high frequency sight words.  That means that these are words that we see A LOT in our everyday reading and writing.  These are words that can not be sounded out but simply just need to be memorized.  When we know these words without having to stop to remember them, it makes our reading much more fluent when we read--meaning we do not have to stop our reading to try and remember what the words are.  They are easy to recall  and easy to read words and we should know all these words by heart.

These words are also posted in various places in our room and I am trying to hold everyone accountable to spelling these words correctly.  Most of us know where to find these words and are starting to recall them quickly in our reading and as we write them in our journals during writing time.

Some things you can do at home to make these words easier to spell and read are:

• look for the words in magazines
• have a word hunt when you are reading
• bodyspell these words (ask your first grader how to bodyspell)
• Write these words in sentences
• use play-dough or modeling clay to make these words

You can also check out these websites for more practice: 

1. http://www.netrover.com/~crose/dolch/dolch.htm
2. http://candohelperpage.com/sightvocab_1.html#anchor_378
3. http://www.gamequarium.com/readquarium/sightgames.html

I hope these websites give you some ideas of what you can be doing at home with your first grader and feel free to check in with me if you have any questions about anything we are doing in our classroom. 

Also, be on the lookout for "turtle words" to start making their appearance!  If you are not familiar with "turtle words" it is simply an at-home spelling program that reinforces these high frequency words on a more individualized program that works at each student's own pace.  This is just another tool to incorporate these words to make them more fluent in our reading and writing.  Don't be alarmed if you see turtle words that are repeated as Words of the Month and vice versa if you see Words of the Month repeated as turtle words!  This will just make practicing the Words of the Month easier and then we should be able to recall them much faster as we read and write. 

Lastly, Don't forget this Wednesday is our annual Jog-a-thon fundraiser!!  Our Jog-a-thon is during our Rhythms time so make sure to wear comfortable tennis shoes!  Water and a light snack will be provided.  If you would like to come and cheer us on we will be jogging from 1:00pm-1:30pm.  Just check in at the front office to get a visitors badge and meet us in the gym!  Hope to see you there! :)

Mrs. Berry